Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling

Chapter 15 Anticipation

I LEARNED A HARD LESSON in my early work with interactive storytelling. I was building my engine around an Arthurian storyworld that included Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. In keeping with the conventions of the basic story, I provided for the possibility of Lancelot falling in love with Guinevere. While I was running one of numerous tests on the storyworld, Lancelot did indeed fall for Guinevere, and the two of them consummated their love in the forest.

Now, this verb MakeLoveTo had a high Import value, and of course the Gossip section of the engine calculated that, because Lancelot was Arthur’s best friend and Guinevere his wife, Arthur would have high interest in any event involving both of them. Accordingly, when ...